Some causes need a poster child before they gain sufficient momentum to enact real progress.

Maybe the masked face of the 14-year-old boy in Harlem, New York City, who accosted and assaulted a 15-year-old girl in a viral video will fit the bill for the long-overdue overhaul of national attitudes about kids and smartphones.

It's impossible to know how many times the disturbing video has been seen, but tens of millions of views is a conservative estimate. And almost everyone on the planet who has seen it (except the boy's mother) is shocked and disgusted by the degree of unprovoked violence.

Here's a brief synopsis: The boy is blocking the girl in a crosswalk after school. She's reportedly heading to squash practice. He points to the ground in front of himself and tells her to stand there. Impatient when she keeps her distance, he threatens to "knock the s- -t out of her right now," and is egged on by others saying, "Do it!"

As she tries to walk around him, he extends his arm and pushes her back. "Get the f- -k away from me," she says as she turns and walks back along the crosswalk and down the sidewalk.

The boy, a foot taller than the girl, rushes to grab her from behind and body slams her head-first onto the concrete. As she lies stunned, he savagely stomps her head and........

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